Irons are traditionally used to straighten or flatten a wrinkled or misshaped garment. Household irons are large, heavy devices that use a heating surface to smooth imperfections in garments. These devices often require long setup and teardown times to allow the heating element to reach operating temperature and then to cool back down after use. Traditional irons also have a heating element that is unshielded and uncovered, which requires constant monitoring during the cooling process.
Traditional irons may require an ironing board or other large, flat surface on which to iron the garments, which require additional storage space and setup time. While useful for large ironing projects, these types of irons are incapable of quickly touching-up a garment without the wearer first removing the garment and setting up the iron and ironing board.
Applicant has identified a number of deficiencies and problems associated with conventional ironing technologies. Through applied effort, ingenuity, and innovation, many of these identified problems have been solved by developing solutions that are included in embodiments of the present invention, many examples of which are described in detail herein.